Monica Barbaro is joining Bradley Cooper and Margot Robbie in Warner Bros.’ “Ocean’s Eleven” prequel, adding a fourth Oscar-nominated name to a cast built around the origins of George Clooney’s Danny Ocean. Cooper is directing, producing and starring alongside Robbie, with Wagner Moura set to play the film’s villain. Barbaro’s character has not been disclosed.
Cooper wrote the screenplay himself after taking over the project, working from characters created by George Clayton Johnson and Jack Golden Russell. Carrie Solomon authored earlier drafts before Cooper stepped in. Robbie’s production company, LuckyChap, is producing alongside Cooper, with a producing team that includes Jay Roach, Gary Ross and Olivia Milch among the executive producers.
The story follows Danny Ocean’s parents in their prime, pulling off a heist decades before their son ever set foot in Las Vegas. Robbie confirmed the setup earlier this year during a video appearance at CinemaCon, describing a couple who taught Danny everything he would later put to use, and placing the action at the 1962 Monaco Grand Prix.
The choice of setting nods to the franchise’s origins, tracing back to Steven Soderbergh’s 2001 “Ocean’s Eleven,” itself a remake of the 1960 Rat Pack film starring Frank Sinatra. The franchise has since generated three sequels and pulled in more than a billion dollars worldwide.
Barbaro arrives on the project fresh off an Oscar nomination for playing Joan Baez in “A Complete Unknown” and a sold-out theater run in “Les Liaisons Dangereuses” in London opposite Lesley Manville and Aidan Turner. She broke out playing Natasha “Phoenix” Trace in “Top Gun: Maverick” and has since built a résumé spanning television’s “Fubar” opposite Arnold Schwarzenegger and Luca Guadagnino’s upcoming “Artificial,” in which she portrays former OpenAI executive Mira Murati. She is next set to co-star with Callum Turner in the romantic comedy “One Night Only,” arriving in theaters in August.
Production on the untitled “Ocean’s” prequel is gearing up for a shoot, with Warner Bros. targeting a June 25, 2027 release. Cinematographer Linus Sandgren, an Oscar winner for “La La Land,” is attached to shoot the film, rounding out a crew stacked with previous Academy Award nominees and winners.
